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Call for Nominations: FICCI Water Awards 2016
FICCI Water Awards recognize excellence in water conservation and sustainable water management practices.
Posted on 28 Sep, 2016 03:56 PM
Water Awards_Call for nomination
Monsoon 2016: Rains create havoc
News this week Posted on 25 Sep, 2016 09:51 PM

Rains cause havoc in Hyderabad while Mumbai lakes, dams overflow with water

Powai Lake, Mumbai. (Source: Wikipedia)
Cauvery crisis: Karnataka to move SC for more time
Policy matters this week Posted on 25 Sep, 2016 09:40 PM

Karnataka to seek more time to release Cauvery water

Cauvery river, Karnataka. (Source: Ashwin Kumar via Wikimedia Commons)
Of broken pots and dreams
With much of Salmora lost to the insatiable Brahmaputra river, the potters of Majuli stand at a crossroad, uncertain how long they can continue their unique craft. Posted on 24 Sep, 2016 11:25 PM

Women in Salmora area of Majuli, the world’s largest riverine island and India’s first island district, practise their traditional form of pottery--the one that does not use a wheel but is hand beaten to shape and uses a viscid kind of clay. As the Brahmaputra eats away huge swathes of land year after year, the clay that these potters use is being taken away by the river. 

Why is Lukha feeling blue?
Heavily polluted and poisoned at its confluence with the Lunar river, the Lukha turns mysteriously blue as it flows downstream. The studies are on to know the cause. Posted on 24 Sep, 2016 09:07 PM

Meghalaya in the northeast of India is richly endowed with natural resources such as streams and rivers as well as mineral resources such as coal, limestone, clay, sillimanite, uranium, and more. The estimated coal reserve in Meghalaya is around 576.48 million tonnes while limestone reserves are around 15,100 million tonnes.

The Lukha river in Meghalaya. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Majuli: A hungry river and a succumbing island
Erosion in Majuli, a large island on the Brahmaputra, has left scores of people bereft of livelihoods and hope. While the government has spent crores on anti-erosion measures, it hasn't helped much. Posted on 24 Sep, 2016 08:30 PM

Brahmaputra is the highest siltation-carrying river in the world, and controlling erosion is not easy. Because of its characteristics, it does not have a parallel with any other river in the world. Mythologically also, the Brahmaputra has always been a disturbed river, highly meandering, says Gunajeet Kashyap (ACS), Election Officer, Majuli.

A boatman looks at the vast and furious Brahmaputra
MGNREGA demands makeover
A decade after its implementation, MGNREGA is in shambles. Taking Jharkhand as an example, a paper analyses what went wrong and how to rectify the mistakes. Posted on 23 Sep, 2016 09:04 PM

The article, The MGNREGA crisis: Insights from Jharkhand, published in the Economic and Political Weekly dated May 28, 2016, provides an overview of the status of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act or MGNREGA in India.

Labourers build check dams under MGNREGA. (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Who gives a sh*t?
Skin irritations, respiratory distresses and sometimes even death, it is a life of suffering for the cleaners of human filth. Posted on 20 Sep, 2016 05:47 PM

“My mother used to head out with a basket full of ash every day. She would visit dry latrines in the area one by one, sprinkle the ash on the night soil, scoop it up and carry the excreta-filled basket on her head to dump the contents into a small tanker. This was almost 40 years back in our 'Singara (beautiful) Chennai',” recounts Ravanaiah.

Despite the ban, manual scavenging continues. (Image courtesy: The Hindu)
Forgotten water bearers of Guwahati
Most of the ponds in Guwahati are in a sorry state now. They need to be preserved, not just as heritage sites, but also as drinking water providers and collectors of surface runoff. Posted on 19 Sep, 2016 06:04 PM

Guwahati, one of the fastest growing cities in India, is thousands of years old. Once known as Pragjyotishpura or the city of eastern light, Guwahati has many ancient stories attached to it. This beautiful city finds mention in epics such as Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Puranas.

Jorpukhuri near Ugratara temple.
Heavy metals and pesticides pollute Ganga: CPCB
News this week Posted on 19 Sep, 2016 09:40 AM

Ganga polluted with heavy metals and pesticides: CPCB

Ganga near Gadmukteshwar. (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
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